BRATTLEBORO -- Texting while driving is getting more costly in Vermont.
Also, new legislation penalizes drivers who use a handheld phone
while traveling through a construction zone and those who leave their
engines idling for too long.

It's all part of a miscellaneous motor-vehicle bill that moved
through the legislature during the just-ended 2013 session. State
Rep. Mollie Burke, a Brattleboro Progressive Democrat, is
particularly pleased with new idling rules that she believes will
save gasoline and promote public health.

"We were the only New England state that had no restrictions on
idling," she said.

Burke was one of nine Windham County lawmakers who spoke Thursday
morning at Brattleboro Retreat during a legislative breakfast
organized by Brattleboro Area Chamber of Commerce.

A member of the House Transportation Committee, Burke opened the
event by defending the legislature's decision to increase the state's
gasoline tax. That levy rose by about 6 cents per gallon on May 1 and
is scheduled to rise again next year.

She pointed out that the state's transportation budget was short by
about $36 million before the gas-tax hike was instituted. Burke also
said state officials must work to find new ways to fund road and
bridge maintenance as drivers continue to use less gas.

"I think that this was a very thoughtful budget," Burke said. "But in
the long term, this is only going to buy us a few years."

While the gas-tax hike has gotten a lot of attention, a few
less-publicized changes also will have an impact on many drivers.

Advertisement

Sending text messages while driving already was prohibited in
Vermont. But after Gov. Peter Shumlin signs the motor-vehicle law,
the penalties for texting will range from to $100 to $200 for a first
offense and $250 to $500 for any subsequent violations that happen
within two years.

Also, all texting offenses will result in a five-point assessment on
a driver's license. Previously, first offenses resulted in a
two-point assessment.

Vermont licenses can be suspended if a driver accumulates at least 10
points in a two-year period. So that means two texting violations
could lead to a suspended license.

Unlike some other states, Vermont has not passed a law prohibiting
use of a hand-held cell phone while driving. However, new state law
does prohibit handheld use of portable electronic devices in
construction zones.

The statute does not apply to "hands-free" phone setups or to any
call that is "necessary to communicate with law enforcement or
emergency-service personnel under emergency circumstances."

Violations carry a $100 to $200 fine and a two-point assessment for
first offenses. There is a $250 to $500 fine and a five-point
assessment for subsequent offenses within a two-year period.

Burke had favored those changes and also had been pushing for a new
anti-idling law. It appeared that the latter effort may have been in
vain until idling regulations were reinstated in the motor-vehicle
bill at the end of the session.

It helped that the American Lung Association had been lobbying the
Vermont Agency of Natural Resources for engine-idling regulations,
Burke said.

"We have a culture that does not recognize how damaging vehicle
emissions are to public health," Burke said.

The law says a driver "shall not cause or permit operation of the
primary propulsion engine of a motor vehicle for more than five
minutes in any 60-minute period while the vehicle is stationary."

It carries penalties ranging from $10 for a first offense to $100 for
a third or subsequent violation.

Bill Daley, co-owner of Vermont Country Deli on Western Avenue, Rep. Mike Hebert (R-Vt., representing Guilford and Vernon) and former representative Patty O'Donnell of Trend Business Solutions in Vernon talk during the chamber breakfast. (Photo courtesy Brattleboro Chamber of Commerce)

Burke pointed out that "there are a lot of exceptions in this bill
for necessary idling." For example, it exempts military and emergency
vehicles as well as school buses idling on school grounds.

The law also includes an educational component, requiring
driver-education courses to offer instruction about "the adverse
environmental, health, economic and other effects of unnecessary
idling."

The idling rules won't go into effect until May 2014, Burke said.

Local lawmakers provided updates on a number of other topics at
Thursday's breakfast, including:

-- Rep. Mike Hebert, R-Vernon, said lawmakers will continue to study
the controversial questions of how Vermont should generate
electricity and where such facilities should be located.

Hebert said he is part of a joint committee that will meet several
times this year to discuss energy policy. One goal is to develop
legislation that would implement some recommendations of Shumlin's
Energy Generation Siting Policy Commission, which issued its final
report April 30.

Hebert noted that, in particular, there remains a "lot of
controversy" over construction of commercial wind turbines on ridge
tops.

"Is this what we've saved our mountaintops for?" he asked.

-- Rep. Ann Manwaring, D-Wilmington and a member of the House
Appropriations Committee, said lawmakers carefully match and adjust
the state's general-funding spending with available revenues.

But she is much less happy with how Vermont's education money is
handled. Manwaring called for greater focus on outcomes and results
when officials decide how to spend money on education.

"We have $1.4 billion to educate our kids," Manwaring said. "Every
kid in this state should have a world-class education for $1.4
billion."

With the legislature having approved a hike in the statewide
education-property tax this year, Manwaring said residents should
expect more of the same in 2014 as local school boards continue to
increase spending.

"We're going to have to do it again next year," she said. "That's the
result of decisions that are made out here."

-- Rep. Valerie Stuart, D-Brattleboro and a member of the House
Education Committee, disagreed with Manwaring's characterization.

Stuart said she and her fellow committee members are "very cognizant"
of outcomes from educational investments.

But Stuart also said her committee, while in charge of crafting
educational policy, does not control the purse strings for the
state's education budget.

"We have little to no say over how that money is spent," Stuart said.

-- Rep. John Moran, D-Wardsboro, said he chairs a Working Vermonters
Legislative Caucus and wants to ensure that workers' rights are
protected.

"Not only do we need a business-friendly Vermont, we need a
worker-friendly Vermont," Moran said.

-- Rep. Mike Mrowicki, D-Putney, said he believes the state's new
end-of-life law - which allows doctors to prescribe lethal medication
to terminally ill patients who request it - is a "narrow" statute
that will be used by only a few people.

While he believes government's role in such matters is limited,
Mrowicki said the law "opens the way for people to have choices in
this."

-- Rep. Carolyn Partridge, D-Windham and chairwoman of the House
Agriculture and Forest Products Committee, said the state will
allocate more than $1.4 million toward "working lands" grants in the
coming fiscal year.

The program, which supports agricultural and forestry businesses, was
popular in its first year: Partridge said there were $12 million in
requests for about $1 million in available funding.

"This is really an economic-development and job-creation program,"
Partridge said.

Partridge also noted that the legislature passed a bill authorizing
hemp cultivation. She said hemp is too often confused with marijuana.

"It's not marijuana," Partridge said. "It's a crop that is cultivated
all over the world."

However, Partridge said Vermont farmers who choose to invest in hemp
cultivation need to remember that growing the plant still is illegal
under federal law.

-- Rep. Tristan Toleno, D-Brattleboro, also served on the Agriculture
Committee during his first term in the legislature. So he was
involved in the high-profile GMO-labeling bill that was approved by
the House and awaits action in the Senate.

In spite of concerns about potential legal challenges from the
bio-technology and/or food industries, Toleno said he believes
mandatory labeling of foods containing genetically modified
ingredients is constitutional.

And he said there is widespread public support for GMO labeling.

"Vermonters as a whole are very enthusiastic about this bill," Toleno
said.

-- Windham County Sen. Jeanette White, D-Putney, said she supported
the legislature's votes to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana
because such cases are unnecessarily "clogging up our
criminal-justice system."

Shumlin is expected to sign the bill, which institutes civil fines
rather than criminal penalties for possession of up to an ounce of
marijuana.

White also touted approval of a bill that cracks down on "patent
trolling." Shumlin on Wednesday signed that legislation, which aims
to protect Vermont companies from false or frivolous claims of patent
infringement.

"If people do this in bad faith, they're going to pay," White said.

"There are going to be fines and criminal penalties."

The county's senior senator also said her push for campaign-finance
reform -- despite several setbacks -- is "not dead" and may be resolved
when the next session begins in January.

Mike Faher can be reached at mfaher@reformer.com or 802-254-2311,
ext. 275.

Welcome to your discussion forum: Click the login link below to sign in with or to set up a Disqus account or to access your social networking account. When you do, your comment should be posted immediately, provided it meets the guidelines. (What are the guidelines?.) Report abuse by flagging a comment (mouse over the comment). Comments made here are the sole responsibility of the person posting them; these comments do not reflect the opinion of The Brattleboro Reformer. So keep it civil.

ODESSA, Texas (AP) — A West Texas man has been charged with impersonating an officer by using sirens and flashing lights to skip to the head of the drive-thru line at a fast-food restaurant. Full Story

Sufjan Stevens, "Carrie & Lowell" (Asthmatic Kitty) Plucked strings and pulsing keyboards dominate the distinctive arrangements on Sufjan Stevens' latest album, and in the absence of a rhythm section, they serve to keep time. Full Story